Onboard control computers have become prevalent in motor vehicles, but as safety, economy, and emissions requirements have continued to tighten, friction braking systems, and traction control devices have not met the requirements set out in government regulations and the implicit demands of competitors' achievements. Successive generations of onboard control computers have acquired increasing data sensing and retention capability as the electronics have advanced.
Present external diagnostic and display apparatus, known as diagnostic tools, are commonly limited to reporting the data acquired by the onboard control computer itself. Increasingly, subtle subsystem failures in vehicles overload the ability of maintenance technicians, not simply to read the faults detected and stored by the diagnostic tools themselves, but to combine those readings with peripheral measurements and deduce corrective actions with both speed and accuracy.
Currently in the automotive industry, there are both stand alone and hand-held diagnostic testers or tools used in connection with motor vehicle maintenance and repair. For example, hand-held diagnostic tools have been used to trouble-shoot faults associated with vehicular control units. Diagnostic tools can detect faults based on Diagnostic Trouble Codes or DTCs that are set in the vehicle's onboard control computer. A DTC can be triggered and stored when there is a problem with the vehicle. A technician then retrieves the DTC using a diagnostic tool, repairs the associated problem and then deletes the DTC from the vehicle's computer.
The current diagnostic tools have become very complicated because of the increase in the number of features. It is desirable for a user to configure the tool in the way that best helps the technician to perform vehicle diagnostics. However, the current diagnostic tools fail to provide an easy manner of allowing a user to cope with the increased array of configurations within a diagnostic tool.
The current diagnostic tool are very limited on how they can be controlled. The current diagnostic tools power up in the same way and in the same order. There is very little control that a user has over the diagnostic tools. Another problem is that each user may have a different set of expertise and priorities in dealing with the different configurations of a diagnostic tool.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that will allow a user greater control and in a helpful manner with regard to all the capabilities of the diagnostic tool. Further, it is also desirable that such control can be modified with respect to the technician.